I suppose it’s time to take a definitive stand, and this is as good a time as any.

I am a Mac user. The outcome of this experiment was never in any doubt, was it? But at least it comes with experience and authority now, rather than just unsubstantiated, uninformed tech bigotry and xenophobia.

Truly, Windows sucks. Without a doubt. Surprisingly though, not as much as I was expecting. But why does it suck at all?

Through no fault of the user, that’s for sure. If anything, the Windows user is complicit only because he tolerates the crap. No one should be made to go through the hoops that Microsoft requires its users. As Peter Finch screamed into the TV camera in Network: I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore!

Fight back. Just say no. I think if enough people expressed that opinion Bill and Co. would comply.

It’s horrible that even the most basic things in Windows will screw up. Just booting up is an interesting experience. The simple task of opening or closing a window might bring grief, or installing a simple shareware app might cripple the system. To get the ball to just roll might require additional expenditure in terms of memory and storage, or of video ram; let us not even get into the complicated and arcane field of processor speeds or multiple processor cores. Think Vista, and experience despair.

Why does this have to be? I’ve mentioned this before in the previous post in this series. Windows is screwed up because it’s a step forward and five steps back; trying to live in (and for) their storied and profitable past is taking a major toll. Maintaining a relationship with that which should be obsolete might keep the revenue up and running, but at what cost?

The Gordian Knot analogy is apt. This knotted ball of problems is best cut in half, and starting over is the perhaps the only solution. This requires a penalty that Microsoft and its millions of acolytes mired in the glorious mess might not be ready to pay.

The ugly part is that Windows Vista users are doomed to work on a bright, pretty new system built partly on rotting foundations, akin to dollying up a cadaver with a wig, make-up and a nice dress.

[Read the rest of this entry »]

Think Secret reports that all regular Apple employees and part-timers who’ve been with Apple for at least one year will receive a free 8gb iPhone next month.

Apple’s 17, 878 employees will get their free phones at the end of July after the first release wave is over and most of the Mac faithful have gotten theirs already. Previously, Apple had given everyone there a free 1GB iPod shuffle. With the expected windfall from iPhone sales, I think things’ll only get better for the working folk up in Cupertino.

I’m in the wrong profession.

The big question with the iPhone is the keyboard - or lack of one.

For a lot of folk, this looms as the deal breaker; it’s a paradigm shift not many feel they can get used to. Some are skeptical if smooth glass would ever displace QWERTY (including myself). But Apple claims their system is workable, with built-in intelligent spell checkers and a fault-tolerant virtual keypad that dynamically changes the size of the press zone. Apple recommends getting used to typing with one hand first, and later when you get comfortable, start with the two-thumbs thing. Ok. We’ll see.

In the meantime Apple has posted a video on how to use the new non-keyboard on their site, and like the previous vids, are viewable in S/M/L sizes, plus a download link for the L version, another hefty 67MB download. Go ahead, it’s your bandwidth.

The review embargo has been lifted for the iPhone! Two days before release, the word is, literally, out. Some prominent examples:

Walt Mossberg

New York Times

USA Today

David Pogue

Newsweek

General consensus is, it lives up to the hype, with some reservations. Most notable are: no MMS; no voice dialing; the OS takes up nearly 700mb of the storage space; ringtones are proprietary - you can’t use that Macarena clip you love so much, but there are 25 to choose from at the moment with more to come; you can’t copy or paste text (huh?); it syncs with Outlook; it is amazingly scratch-resistant; the battery life is as promised; there is no option for expandable memory; the battery is sealed inside - once it goes, you have to send it in to Apple to be replaced; it takes snaps, but not video; voice quality is good; it’s a full-blown, fantastic iPod; iTunes games are not compatible, and; I still can’t get one.

More reviews coming. Apparently a lot of folk had one, but were honoring the NDAs. Sneaky devils.

Creative announced late last week an update to their new iPod shuffle killer Creative Zen Stone, dubbed the Zen Stone Plus. What, so soon?

Build quality and plastic look comments aside, the Zen Stone’s advantages over Apple’s shuffle are considerable - the price, and the sound quality, which has been a Creative strength across the board ever since. Apparently they’ve had another Stone up their sleeve the whole time.

And it’s not one of those ninny incremental upgrades - it’s a whole new animal - with the big surprise that this one has a screen! Not in color, though; that’d be asking too much - but at least it’s blue OLED, if that’s significant.

It has lots more goodies : it’s twice the capacity (2gb), it’s got an FM tuner, it records, it has stopwatch and timing abilities, runs for 9.5 hours, plus some other features that’d put it up against the nano more than the shuffle (save for the color screen, of course). It also has a host of new accessories available, including a strap that lets you wear the Stone Plus as a wristwatch.

And for all this, it just retails for about US$69!

Take that, you iPod meanie, you.